The number of domestic passengers traveling by air rose nearly a quarter in the first half of the year owing to airlines’ aggressive promo offering, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said.

Data from CAB showed that domestic passenger traffic went up by 24.34 percent to 5.16 million for the first six months of the year from 4.15 million in the same period last year.

Cebu Pacific, the airline unit of Gokongwei family’s JG Summit Holdings, Inc., carried the most number of passengers with 2.25 million from January to June compared with 1.3 million in the same period last year.

Cebu Pacific has a load factor of 84 percent during the period from 74 percent last year.

Lucio-Tan owned Philippine Airlines came next, flying 1.98 million passengers for the first six months of the year from 1.97 million in the same period last year. PAL’s load factor was 80 percent.

Air cargo traffic also inched up by 4.5 percent to 60.88 million kilograms from January to June from 58.22 million kg in the same period last year. PAL carried 26.23 million kg during the period lower from 28.42 million kg in the same period last year. Cebu Pacific followed with 24.045 million kg; Pacific East Asia Cargo, 5.73 million kg; Air Philippines, 4.7 million kg and SEAIR, 110,892 kg.

The CAB has projected that the country’s air travel industry is likely to grow 7 percent this year. Manila Times report.